Flemish Giants?

[alyssars1]

I am looking to get a rabbit soon, and have been reading about flemish giants, i didnt think id ever want to get one, cause they're size kinda intimidates me a bit i guess?lol.
but me and my boyfriend where looking at the breeds, and he thought they where so awesome.. so out of curiosity i started reading about them and now im in love with the breed! Id love to have one, but Im not sure yet. How many of you guys here have them? are they hard to keep? how big of a cage do you have? my rabbit will be outdoors, but will come inside for attenchin, and I have a large screened in porch for him to play in also. What im mainly worried about is that when im getting him/her out of the cage to bring inside, if it gets scared for some reason, I dont know if id be able to handle it, and he might get lost.
At first i had my mind set on a holland lop, but then decided mini lops because I heard they where calmer. (I have had mini lops before and i do like them, just decided to research some other breeds for this time)
I would like a calmer rabbit, but yet id still like a rabbit that likes to play. friendly-ness is most important to me though, i want a rabbit that loves attenchin.
I also like what ive read about french and english lops, im having such a hard time deciding lol. any suggestions? leaseplease:

 

[Yield]

[align=center]I have a Flemish Giant.

They are an amazing breed.

He has a huge dog cage and a huge pen attached to that dog cage.

If you can, maybe you could get a carrier and transport the bunny inside with that?

You may just need to practice carrying a larger bun =) It can be pretty intimidating. I was afraid to carry my Flemish at first, but I'm not anymore. I just practiced (and I got him full-grown, and afraid of being held). It just took some bonding and such. Now I pick him up and he's usually okay with it.

He LOVES people, animals, and me. He licks everyone, begs everyone for pets, and doesn't seem bothered by anything. (except for the ceiling fan!)

He is usually pretty lazy but sometimes he'll start being a spaz.

I recommend Flemish Giants if you are willing to clean the litterbox/area a lot, provide lots of food, and work with the bun on being held and such ^_^

 

[TinysMom]

You might enjoy reading a thread that I will bump for you - its several years old and many of the photo links are missing....but you'll see stories about flemish, etc.

Flemish Fever

You will see words highlighted because I had to do a search using those words to find it.

As a flemish breeder - I highly recommend flemish giants - and I have several other breeds (and I'd recommend most of them too).

But flemish....they're just so different in personality.

Normally I recommend people get a buck - with the flemish - I recommend people get a doe because they are even more awesome than the bucks.

 

[TinysMom]

Here is a video of Tiny when he was about 2 years old (and going through a bad molt).

 

[cindyrads]

They are great! They are so laid back. My first Flemish died a few weeks ago but he was the most awesome rabbit we ever had. He was almost like a dog. He even would go outside to go to the bathroom and would hold his pee and poops all night until my husband let him out with the dogs in the morning. He had such a cool personality too.

We got a new one and he is awesome too. It took him about two days to adjust fully to the house and us. We have a pen set up for him right now and he goes in to use his box regularly. He is very social and gets along with our other animals. He is three months old tomorrow and I think he is doing great for only being here three weeks.

Don't be afraid of picking them up. It's no different than picking up a 15-20 pound dog. They aren't a panicky breed in general so they don't really fuss when you pick them up.
And even if he did get out of your arms he probably wouldn't run off.

You probably won't even need a cage outside. Since you have a screened in porch you could just set up a pen and a littler box until he is trained and probably at some point you could just let him have free run of the porch and the house.

One thing that I've noticed about Flemish too is that they aren't very destructive rabbits.

I say go for it. You'll be glad you did.

 

[alyssars1]

Thanks for the replies!!

Hmmmm, Im wanting one very badly, they sound pretty much perfect! Ive been planning on going to my dads house this week to make a hutch. guess i might need to make a larger one if i might be getting a giant. lol what kind of floors do you use for them? I was wanting a wire bottom for easy cleaning, but that might not be the best for such a big bunny. maybe i could have it wire and train him to use a litterbox, then put a solid floor after hes trained...hmmm.

One thing I read on a couple sites was that theyre bites can be pretty painful, but im sure that would be rare for them to bite right? (I've never actually been bitten by a rabbit anyway, so..) especially if i raised him/her from a baby and is tame. but that kinda made me nervous about it when i read that

 

[Yield]

alyssars1 wrote:

Thanks for the replies!!

Hmmmm, Im wanting one very badly, they sound pretty much perfect! Ive been planning on going to my dads house this week to make a hutch. guess i might need to make a larger one if i might be getting a giant. lol what kind of floors do you use for them? I was wanting a wire bottom for easy cleaning, but that might not be the best for such a big bunny. maybe i could have it wire and train him to use a litterbox, then put a solid floor after hes trained...hmmm.

One thing I read on a couple sites was that theyre bites can be pretty painful, but im sure that would be rare for them to bite right? (I've never actually been bitten by a rabbit anyway, so..) especially if i raised him/her from a baby and is tame. but that kinda made me nervous about it when i read that

[align=center]Yeah, wire floors are highly discouraged for Flemish Giants I believe... they could get sore hocks very easily.

My flemish giant has never bitten me hard, only nips. My smallest buns, a dutch and a mix, they've bitten me HARD! It really depends on the personality I suppose. I think it's unlikely that they'd bite, unless they're mad/cage aggressive.. something like that.

 

[nochoramet]

My boyfriend has a flemmie and she is just awesome. She's really young so she's been adventurous but she's calming down with age. She's got such a sassy personality, we're always cracking up at her! But she's also extremely friendly, follows you around everywhere and will bump you for pets. And she has bitten me before and it was PAINFUL, it was almost a month ago and it's still not 100% healed but it was my fault. She was mad because I was sticking my finger in her cage and wouldn't let her out, so it wasn't vicious or anything it was a nip that was badly aimed and caused more damage than was meant. They're a great breed.

 

[Yield]

TinysMom wrote:

You might enjoy reading a thread that I will bump for you - its several years old and many of the photo links are missing....but you'll see stories about flemish, etc.

Flemish Fever

You will see words highlighted because I had to do a search using those words to find it.

As a flemish breeder - I highly recommend flemish giants - and I have several other breeds (and I'd recommend most of them too). 

But flemish....they're just so different in personality.

Normally I recommend people get a buck - with the flemish - I recommend people get a doe because they are even more awesome than the bucks.

[align=center]Just curious, why is a doe more awesome than a buck? =O

 

[TinysMom]

A couple of breeders told me (and from my experience) - the flemish does are more cuddly than the bucks. (This is not true in ALL cases).

If I were to sit on the floor and let a buck out to play...he'd hang around me and want pets and all and lay beside me. Doing the same thing with a doe - means the doe is ON MY LAP...literally - getting pets and demanding them.

Not all does are like this - a lot depends upon their genes in the family line and their upbringing.

But I've found this to be very true with my litters. My boys are fun and love pets - but my girls are big babies and cuddlers.

 

[Yield]

TinysMom wrote:

A couple of breeders told me (and from my experience) - the flemish does are more cuddly than the bucks. (This is not true in ALL cases).

If I were to sit on the floor and let a buck out to play...he'd hang around me and want pets and all and lay beside me. Doing the same thing with a doe - means the doe is ON MY LAP...literally - getting pets and demanding them.

Not all does are like this - a lot depends upon their genes in the family line and their upbringing.

But I've found this to be very true with my litters. My boys are fun and love pets - but my girls are big babies and cuddlers.

[align=center]Ohh =)
Yeah, Silas must be a special case then because he's a bug cuddler. Also- speaking of Flemmies, Peg, I uploaded some pics of Nala's sister in that one thread ^_^

 

[TinysMom]

It isn't that the boys aren't cuddlers so much - as it is that the girls are.

In most breeds - breeders will tell a prospective owner that a buck is the better choice for a pet.

Flemish giants are the only breed I know of where girls are "as good" or "better" for pets.

Tiny was a cuddlr and a kisser too...so it isn't as if flemish bucks aren't that way - and when I was petting Mercury today I was getting a bath almost as he kept kissing me.

I saw your pictures - to me her sister looks more like a full blooded flemish than your girl does. But then again - pictures can be taken at different angles, etc. and it can oftentimes affect whether we think a rabbit is a full flemmie or a mix.

 

[alyssars1]

Thanks for all the replies! I would love a flemmie, but I think I may just go back to my mini lop breed for now atleast, but I still want a flemmie someday.. when I own my home maybe and have a farm lol

 

[alyssars1]

...or a holland.

but you just wait and see, Ill probably end up going to a farm store out of curiosity.. just to look, and end up falling in love with a bunny i have no idea what it is and take him hom ... not that ive ever done that or anything..... hehe